Racquet Club of Concord sold before foreclosure auction

A buyer has purchased the Racquet Club of Concord, staying a foreclosure auction that had been scheduled for yesterday morning.

The Nelson family built the health club on Garvins Falls Road in 1972. In a voicemail Tuesday, Debbie Nelson said Charles Mabardy has officially bought the Racquet Club. He signed the papers Tuesday night, she said. The change was recorded at the Merrimack County Registry of Deeds yesterday morning.

“We are very happy to see him buy the facility,” Nelson said in her voicemail. “So this is good.”

Nelson did not return a call for further comment. Neither did Mabardy, whose LinkedIn profile notes he is the president and CEO at Mabardy Oil Inc. and a corporator at the Provident Bank.

“He needs to get moving,” Nelson said Tuesday. “He takes over tomorrow morning.”

The Nelsons and Mabardy completed the sale just hours before it was scheduled for auction. The mortgage holder was Michael Benton of Executive Health and Sports Club. Benton was also set to buy the property, until the Nelsons walked away from that deal earlier this year.

Benton told the Monitor this month that the Nelsons had not been making mortgage payments on the club, and he had to pay outstanding taxes in order to stop the city from seizing the property. If the Nelsons had not found a buyer by yesterday morning, the Racquet Club would have been auctioned off at 10 a.m.

Instead, Mabardy stepped in. The 72,000-square-foot building was listed at $1.8 million in May, though it is unclear how much Mabardy paid and what his plans are for the long-standing club.

“He’s really excited to take over,” Nelson said in her voicemail.

(Megan Doyle can be reached at 369-3321 or mdoyle@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @megan_e_doyle.)